Though not new to the game, two of hip hop’s rising prodigies — with only one proper album between the two — illustrated exactly why they deserve the title of “rap’s next new thing” Tuesday at Assembly Hall.

First up was Big K.R.I.T. (that’s King Remembered In Time), whose debut album is set for release June 5. Touring behind two stellar, breakout mix tapes, Big K.R.I.T. brought back a sound abandoned by rap radio years ago. K.R.I.T.’s Mississippi drawl glided over thudding, Crunk-era beats with bass so low it’d make Big Boi envious. The South will rise again, indeed, and don’t be surprised if K.R.I.T. is the one spearheading the charge.

Tuesday night’s headliner, however, was J. Cole, a North Carolina-bred, magna cum laude-earning college graduate. His debut album “Cole World: The Sideline Story” landed at number one on the Billboard charts and earned him a Grammy nomination for best new artist.

Cole first performed in Champaign two years ago, when he opened for Jay Z. This time around, he brought a full backing band, with ample synths and keyboards. Unfortunately, the band left the grand piano — which J. Cole uses ad nauseum on his album — in the gear trailer. There was no live bass either. Instead, DJ Dummy, himself a virtuoso on the turntable, provided the bass, which was mixed so loud it drowned out the old school New York piano chords that are so prominent on the album.

When they were needed, the band was stellar, and J. Cole was smart enough to show them off. J. Cole is the only rapper I’ve seen let his band play extended piano, drum and guitar interludes, which were executed so that they didn’t detract from the tempo of the show. There was even an extended vocoder intro to the Kanye West-sampling hit single “Work Out,” which allowed time for J. Cole to change into his orange Illinois sweatshirt.

If “Work Out” is the defining sound of J. Cole’s young career, then he might be rightly or wrongly labeled as a backpack rapper in the vein of the very rapper he so prominently samples on the track (West’s hit single “New Workout Plan”). But for most of the show, J. Cole’s delivery was aggressive for a conscious rapper.

When J. Cole slows the tempo and gets literary is when he is at his most raw, emotional and, surprisingly, crowd pleasing. Amid all the soul-sampling, up tempo tracks, the chilled-out “Lost Ones” provided one of the biggest sing-alongs of the nights. It’s a fascinating track about abortion, where J. Cole raps one verse from the perspective of the man and one from the woman who is deciding whether or not to keep the baby.

“And I ain’t too proud to tell you that I cry sometimes about it… and ain’t no body perfect, still we can make it work, but I doubt it.” That sentiment is more universal than any of his singles, and it clearly struck a chord with the crowd. See, that communications degree he earned did do him good.

Joe Ward is a Senior in Media. Follow him @JayDubWard